Posted on: May 15, 2013
Happiness seemed to be attainable here
Bergen is a town in the province of North Holland, in the Netherlands and it is the ideal destination for a short break, with wonderful cycling routes, hours of walking, or simply relaxing on the beach. The small Bergen aan Zee pays a lot of attention to hospitality and you will find several small, atmospheric hotels or guest houses to make you feel like home, terraces and beaches to relax, or numerous cultural elements to discover.
An artist's village
Bergen is known as an artist's village, as it has been the home of many painters, writers and architects. Since the beginning of the 19th century, a lot of artists have been living in the area and the artistic flow that resulted out of this, is called the Bergen School. Around 1915 a group of young painters gathered in Bergen and the Dutch expressionism began. The artists, who included Charley Toorop, Leo Gestel and Piet van Wijngaerdt, mainly painted landscapes and still lifes. Today some of the Bergen’s School work is on exhibit at Museum Kranenburgh. An annual arts festival also takes place in October, the Kunsttiendaagse.
Also, many poets lived there, like Henriëtte Roland Holst who had a house in Bergen or Adriaan Roland Holst who wrote Winters aan Zee (Winters by the sea) there. The artist and poet Lucebert settled in the village, in 1953, the writer and poet H.C. ten Berge grew up there and Adriaan van Dis was born there.
Source: www.coast-alive.eu
